19/02/2010

Consultant teachers

Last week we met with teachers from the three existing schools, to find out some more about the way they work and how they could be working together. Kristine, Soley and Tadzo are all part of a Peace Corps program in Mozambique and have been working here for a year. We wanted to talk with them because they have a fresh view of how the schools are working.

Kristine, Soley and Magnus at Soley's balcony

It seemed to be an agreement that the potential benefit of having a school for both dance, music and visual arts is great. A school this big will certainly demand more of the administrating section, but an adapted building layout and coordinated time schedules would promote collaboration between the three schools in a completely new way.

One obvious challenge is that the three existing schools are quite different in terms of grades. While the END and the ENM are both teaching part time students from 4-5 to 16 years old, ENAV is a full time high school of three years, also teaching general subjects, for students from 16 years old and up. The school proposed in the report is a school more similar to ENAV than the two others. This should rather be an addition to the existing schools for younger kids, than a substitution.

Economy is also an issue, both for the school administration and for the students. What good is a canteen if the students can not afford to by anything there?

Tandzo and Ingrid in the shaded back yard of the music school

Music, dance and visual arts are all arts and they need the same basis of theory and practice to perform. By bringing them together as three faculties under one roof, they could learn this basis together. Also by performing for each other and reacting on each others performances they can learn more about their own art form as well as the others'. This would make the students more complete as artists. Being different but appreciating each other.

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About Me

This blog is where I, day by day, log, think and work my way through my master thesis in architecture at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The project consists of designing a combined arts, dance and music school in Maputo, Mozambique.
I started this blog while I was doing an intensive four week field work in Maputo, from the 27th of january until the 24th of february. Now I am back in Trondheim, working out the project.